Tar Monsters from Mars
by finem
Summary: Just because Sora's a little eccentric, doesn't mean that he's lying about it, and just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it can't consume your heart from within. [happy halloween][inspired by The Faculty]
1. Chapter 1

**Standard Disclaimer:** "Twas a dark and stormy night…the kind of night that makes small children run to their mommies in fear of the something they just knew was waiting for them under the bed. Mommy of course would always shush them with calm reassurances that everything was ok…but mommy was wrong…oh so very wrong, because under the bed lay…

…ownership of Kingdom Hearts and all other characters associated therein, and all good children knew that if they were to claim such ownership the lawyers of both Sqare-Enix and Disney would come in the night to slap a law suit on mommy and daddy so fast that both would be seeing other worlds by the time it was all over…now that's a truly scary story. In short…not mine.

**Note:** So like yeah…I wanted to write a scary story for Halloween…even started it some time last month…or the month before, yet somehow it never got finished. 'Twas supposed to be a weird little one-shot…and then it morphed. Man I miss the days when I was almost physically unable to write a story that was more than like…6 pages long. Anyway…this is inspired by that movie 'The Faculty" so if you've seen it, don't be shocked by the similarities…if not, just know this plot is only partially mine. Not sure how scary it is, but…well, I tried.

**Warnings: **I'm not totally sure yet. At least some language, probable hints of slash, likely presence of blood…and very interesting Sora…yeah…Oh, and some flashback things. Ok, that's all, read on!

-:-finem-:-

-:- … -:-

Sora rolled out of bed blinking away a glaring brightness that was blinding him as he opened his eyes. He spend about 10 seconds that way before he realized that the thing that was blinding him was a beam of sunlight from a crack in their curtains. That of course was strange considering how neurotic Roxas was about making sure the curtains were shut before they went to bed, but then again, Roxas had been very tired the previous night. He could have missed such a small crack. Sora shrugged the moment off, sitting up to turn off his alarm only to realize belatedly that the alarm had not gone off yet…in fact, looking at the clock, he realized that it was barely after six and the alarm wouldn't be going off for another half hour. The sun shouldn't even have risen high enough to reach their window until after they were up and dressed and ready to leave.

Completely confused now, Sora jumped out of bed and ran to rip the curtains open to look outside. The sky was gray and overcast, glowing with the light of dawn but…the sun had not yet moved above the horizon…so what had woken him?

**Tar Monsters from Mars**

-:- **I** -:-

So, Sora and Roxas were twins, identical, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended. Sora was a dreamer. He spent hours of his life making up stories and playing out adventures that took him to places all over the world and sometimes beyond. He would often create elaborate situations just to see how much he could get others to believe of what he said, like the time he convinced half the school that they were being fed steroids with their lunch so that the school could get more money on account of their highly talented sports teams. People bought it, too, because the school did have a reputation for putting out some of the best athletes around. Of course it was a load of bull which Sora got away with because no one could stay mad at Sora for more than five seconds. One look into that friendly, sweet, innocent face and even the hardest hearts at least would write him off as not worth the effort. Over their 2.5 years of High School, Sora had pulled enough of his stunts for everyone to already know how his mind worked. It was for this reason that Roxas completely ignored his brother when Sora started babbling about something "weird" going on that morning.

Roxas was a realist. He saw the world in black and white, accepted ideas only if there was solid evidence to back them up. While his brother was quick to make connections of a more fanciful nature, Roxas was quick to make connections that could rip weak arguments apart and convince people of pretty much anything through the sheer strength of his logic. There was a reason that he was reigning champion of their school's forensics team. Roxas was no-nonsense anyway you sliced it, and Sora was really pushing his twin's patience today because he kept talking nothing but nonsense.

Sometimes Roxas wondered how the two of them were related, but that was only when Sora was annoying him, which happened far less often than you would think. In reality, both understood that they weren't so much opposites as most people chose to see them, but rather, they were complements of each other, balancing strengths and weaknesses to make a stronger whole. They ran in different circles at school, which was part of the reason that those who didn't know them personally thought that they weren't very close, but they were twins. They didn't need physical contact to be close. Most times it almost felt like they shared a brain.

Because of this, Roxas found himself getting a little worried about his brother. He seriously believed everything he was saying even though he was making no sense at all. Was it possible that his fantasies had finally taken over his brain leaving Sora lost inside his own head? Roxas suddenly stopped on the sidewalk as they were walking home halting Sora with him as he looked into his brother's eyes carefully.

"Reality check," he said. "Who am I?"

"Roxas what the hell are you doing?" Sora asked dryly giving his brother a look that expressed just how excited he was to have his own flesh and blood questioning his sanity.

"Well you don't seem to be lost in space or anything," Roxas said resuming their walk. "So I really don't know what is up with you today. You haven't shut up about this crap since this morning.

"Because that's when all of this 'crap' started! Haven't you been listening to anything that I've been saying?"

"I heard all of it and it still ain't makin' much sense, bro. Creepy 'vibes' and things you think you might have seen out of the corner of you eye aren't exactly the world's most convincing pieces of evidence."

"I'm you freakin' brother, Ro, since when do I need evidence for you to believe me?! I swear, I kept getting this weird feeling and then I looked up and principal Ansem was just glaring at me, and not like normal glaring, but this totally psycho I'm-gonna-drag-you-into-a-dark-alley-and-deflower-your-virtue-because-I'm-a crazy-axe-murdering-pedophile kind of glare. And every time I saw him, he was giving me the exact same look!"

"Sora, are you even listening to yourself. Do you even remember the 'Thor Incident' on Friday? I'd be glaring at you too if you'd put a giant hole into the wall of my office causing me to spill burning tea all over my lap, fall out of my chair and sprain my wrist in a span of less than ten seconds. You're seriously lucky that all you're getting is glares for that one."

"Totally not my fault," brushed the topic aside. "I told Lex not to actually throw the hammer. But how about this; I swear that when I was looking at him one time, his eyes totally turned yellow."

"Hello, his eyes have always been yellow. He talks about his genetic anomaly all of the time."

"Duh, Rox, I'm not an idiot. I said that they _totally_ turned yellow. No whites, no pupils, just yellow. Now tell me that's not freaky." Roxas took a moment to stare at his twin in growing concern…not for Sora's sanity which he knew had been lost long ago, but his own if he had to continue hearing this insane-o story any longer. Some of Sora's scenarios were pretty entertaining and Roxas would play along for fun, but this was…

"What did you have before bed last night?" he asked pulling out his keys. They were approaching their house.

"Same thing that you did," Sora said, pouting as he realized that his brother was really not going not believe him.

"Then maybe Cloud slipped some LSD into your nachos. You're totally acting stranger than usual."

"But Demyx said—" Roxas raised a hand cutting his brother off, a sense of relief flooding through him as some logic was brought into the situation.

"Say no more. It all makes sense now. This is all _his_ doing. I don't know why you insist on hanging out with that freak. He's making you even more bizarre than you already are."

"And I don't know why you insist on bad-mouthing my friends. I never say anything about who you choose to hang out with."

"Yeah, that's because my friends are _normal,_ not the hippy weirdos you associate with."

"What the hell, Roxas!?" Sora screamed as they both stormed into the house. "You say that I'm acting weird! You're the one being a bigger ass than usual! Believe it or not, I'm actually trying to be serious here!"

"Right. Serious," Roxas scoffed stopping in the living room and dropping his bag. "Like you were serious about the gnomes living in our back yard last month, or the floor ghosts last April, or the fucking sock stealing aliens last year!" He'd been getting louder with every remembered atrocity and at this point, Roxas was screaming full volume at a slowly wilting Sora. "When are you going to get it though your skull that your grip on reality is just a little slippery!? I put up with this shit all day everyday and I don't say a word! I even go along with you sometimes! All I'm asking is that just once, _just this once_, you drop the fucking make-believe!!!!" The two stood there facing off; Roxas breathing hard, Sora looking pissed and hurt.

"Did I miss something?" Cloud's voice suddenly slid through the tension in the room and the twins' attention snapped to their older brother immediately.

"Cloud, hey! What're you doing home so early?" Sora asked all smiles, and just like that, the argument was forgotten. Sora could be stubborn when he wanted to be, but fortunately for those who had to deal with him regularly, he could also, at times, have the memory span of a goldfish.

"There was a weird blackout in the Civic Center," Cloud said eyeing them suspiciously. "Our computers are down and we can't access any of our delivery info. It's gonna be hell once the system is back online, but for now it's free paid leave for all. And you didn't answer my question. What were you two arguing about?

"Nothing important."

"Just Sora being Sora." The boys had spoken at the same time and Cloud raised an eyebrow in question.

"But y'know," Sora began again. "What Cloud said only proves my point. When was the last time the Civic Center had a blackout? That's not even supposed to happen!"

"It happens every year during typhoon season, Sora!" Roxas cried throwing up his hands in exasperation.

"Yeah, but there are supposed to be back up generators all over the place to keep stuff like this from happening, so how the heck are all of the generators out too? It's just _weird!_" Cloud turned a questioning eye to Roxas as Sora continued ranting.

"He's been rambling about 'weird vibes' all day," Roxas informed him making air quotes at the appropriate words. "I think he's been spending too much time with that Demyx kid. He's getting just as delusional now.

"This is Sora we're talking about," Cloud smirked. "Since when has he not been delusional?"

"Point," Roxas agreed. "You listen to him for a while. I'm done and I'm hungry."

"Right," Cloud said dryly watching Roxas leave as he tuned back in to his other brother. Sora was now hypothesizing on the probability of marine life plotting to take over the surface world by using sonar to short circuit people's brains so that they could control humanity by using hypnotic suggestions transmitted through echo location. Cloud rolled his eyes and exited the living room, leaving Sora to continue theorizing to himself.

-:- -:- -:-

_Sora stood beside his twin, staring at his new High School with numb apprehension. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be anywhere. He just wanted his parent's back. This step was hard enough, but considering the recent changes in his and his brothers' lives, it seemed like something far more difficult that it should have been._

_He parted ways with Roxas after they had located some of their friends. Sora had wanted to seek out the two people in his life who he knew could make this experience bearable. He saw them down a crowded hall; a flash of auburn, a streak of silver. He called out to them waving an arm, a small smile forcing its way to his face. _

_There was a moment—a hard, frozen moment when eyes locked and something odd was exchanged—then they were turning away…walking away as if they hadn't even seen him. Walking away, hand-in-hand, straight out of Sora's life._

_In that moment, Sora felt his heart break…_

-:- -:- -:-

"Dude, seriously. I swear I saw this shell looking thing on the field today, and I think it twitched. Like, all by itself. I totally saw this in a movie once. I bet it was some kind of extraterrestrial organism that can take over people's brains by like…shoving its way up our nose or something, and legions of its unholy brethren are, even as we speak gathering and waiting so that they can strike and take over everyone on this island so that they'll be in prime position to take over the world and steal out natural resources, and grind us up as mulch to fertilize their farms of human batteries that they need to survive!" There was silence at the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

"I'm still here, Sora, I'm just not sure I followed all of that."

"Oh come on, Naminé! It makes perfect sense!"

"Except what you saw was probably just a hermit crab, and even if there were aliens, they'd be grinding up themselves too if they used us as fertilizer, and they wouldn't need us as batteries if they're here to rob us of our natural resources…and I'm pretty sure mulch is made from plant matter only."

"Right, like I'm supposed to understand the inner workings of blood-thirsty alien brains…though you seem awfully familiar with them. How do I know that's really you over there Naminé?"

"Get a life, Sora. Why are you telling me all of this anyway? Isn't this the kind of stuff you'd usually bring to Demyx?"

"Because Roxas doesn't believe me!" he whined, flopping back onto his bed. "You're the only one of my friends that he actually likes, and I was hoping that if you talked to him, then…y'know…maybe he would take me a bit more seriously."

"Sora," Naminé sighed over the line, "I really want to help you, but honestly. Even you have to admit that what you're saying just sounds a little…"

"Nuts, I know, you don't have to sugar-coat it." He sighed rolling onto his side to squeeze a pillow and attempt to pull his thoughts together for once. "It totally does sound crazy, but you've gotta believe me when I say that I'm serious this time. There is something just…wrong going on. I don't know why or how I know, I just do, and I have no clue what to do about it. Critical thinking is Roxas' thing, not mine."

"Well if it really is that serious, I'm sure that Roxas will realize it without me intervening. You'll figure it out Sora. You always do. Just…try not to stress about it too much. You'll only make yourself sick."

"Yeah, yeah…whatever. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Just make sure to watch out for crabs that are eyeballin' your nose. You can never be too careful."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled and my nostrils sealed," she promised with a small giggle. "Later," she said, and with a small click at the end of the line, she was gone.

Sora spent the rest of the evening doing homework and hanging-out with his brothers the way he always did. As Roxas requested, he didn't talk any more about bad vibes or weird feelings, but still, as the hours ticked by, he couldn't help but notice that the warning that had been buzzing through his nerves all day only seemed to be getting stronger.

-:- -:- -:-

_God, I hate this place_ Axel thought as he drove onto the campus of Destiny High. If it weren't for his brother constantly getting on his case about what their mother would've wanted for him…

Right. Whatever. He only had another year to go before he was legal and could blow the joint. He smirked at the thought. Blowing a joint sounded pretty good actually. He pulled into one of the free spots reserved for teachers and hopped out of his crumbling piece of shit, also known as his car. It was old. It was crappy. But he had pissed blood to earn the money to buy the damn thing and he was proud to call it _his_ piece of shit. He grabbed his bag of obligatory supplies from his passenger seat before heading towards campus not really caring if any teachers saw his car. First period would be starting in a few minutes and that meant that he and his crew could find someplace to ditch and do something better with their time.

He froze as he rounded the corner and spotted a certain perky brunette giggleing and hanging all over Xaldin while the rest of his friends just passively ignored the whole thing. Taking a small step back, Axel blinked a few time to make sure that he wasn't actually imagining things. What the _fuck_ was _Xaldin_ doing hangin with Selphie "fuck me harder" Timlett?!? And why the _fuck_ weren't any of the others saying anything about it? She was the very personification of everything they hated most. One of their favorite things to do was figure out the most amusing way for her to die. So how were they all suddenly so buddy buddy?

What. The. Fuck.

"Ax, babe!" Larxene suddenly called out noticing Axel's presence. Selphie and Xaldin both looked over at the same time sending a shudder down Axel's spine. It was just so wrong seeing the two of them together…or maybe it was something else. Axel didn't really have time to contemplate that thought because Selphie was suddenly smirking at him and happily bouncing away. Fucking cheerleaders. He wanted more than ever to smack that smirk off of her face.

"Axel, get your skinny ass over here!" Marluxia called over, snapping Axel out of his Selphie-death fantasies. He looked over at his friends, all of whom were smirking at him in a manner disturbingly similar to the perky Ms. Timlett. He didn't like it. Something about the whole situation was seriously freaking him out. He took a hesitant step towards his friends eyeing them warily.

"What are you waiting for ass-wipe!?" Xaldin called out. "We've got something awesome to show you. We promise, you'll love it." The bell for first period rang.

-:- -:- -:-

_Roxas found him sitting on a bench near the field staring off at nothing at all, face blank as was common for Sora lately. Roxas had felt the pain from his brother instantly and sought him out to find out what had happened._

"_They just turned away," Sora had told him, "like I wasn't even there…I don't understand."_

_Roxas received the same treatment from Sora's two former best friends, blood boiling every time he tried to make contact and was ignored._

"_People change, Roxas!" Kairi had snapped out of irritation or frustration or both at one point. "We've moved on. Sora should do the same." With that, she had dragged a hesitant looking Riku away. Ice-blue eyes met turquoise for a long, searing moment before Riku finally broke the contact, turning away in shame. _

_So that's how it was going to be. They were just going to dump Sora when he needed them most. Roxas was fine with that. He didn't want his brother associating with people like that…but he would never forgive them for hurting his twin._

-:- -:- -:-

As the morning progressed and Sora just got more and more anxious, Roxas was forced to start believing that maybe this time, Sora wasn't completely making shit up. There definitely was something off about school all of a sudden. First period had just started and they were scheduled to choose their classes for the following semester with their counselors, but rather than the counselors coming to their class as they usually did, the class was going to the counseling office to meet with their counselors one-on-one…also very strange. They'd been doing the same process for years, so why the sudden change?

Roxas tried to shake it off as Sora's paranoia bleeding over to him, but as he stood in line waiting his turn and watching the other students come out of the office return to class, his gut kept twisting and telling him not to go into his counselor's office alone. He tried his best to shake the feelings, he didn't have any logical reason to worry about the situation really, but still…

The matter was taken out of his hands as he found himself suddenly dashing out of the Counseling Office and down the hall towards the gym. Sora's first period was P.E. and he had to get to him. Something was happening. Sora was in trouble, that much he could tell from his own rushing pulse and the terror that had taken root out of no where. He knew that it was coming from his twin and he knew that he had to get to his brother as quickly as possible.

Cursing under his breath at the size of their school and the fact that the gym pool was on the other side of campus and the offices were on the third floor of the school's main building, Roxas hurried as fast as he could across the field and into the P.E. Complex. Continuing his mad sprint for the pool, he took a corner at breakneck speed and almost actually broke his neck when a clammy hand reached out of a utility closet, grabbed him and yanked him inside.

"Let go of me you freak! I'll kill you! I'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them! I'll—"

"Ro, shut-up!" A voice hissed at him and Roxas stopped his struggles abruptly. In his fear for his brother, he hadn't notice that his target had already managed to find him first. Roxas relaxed marginally and turned, gasping for breath, to face his brother, throwing his arms around him and getting dripped all over by soaking hair for his trouble.

"What the hell happened?!" he asked pulling away to check Sora for injury. There seemed to be some odd red impressions on his skin but otherwise he was unharmed. Still, he was visibly trembling, and Roxas could still feel an echo of raw terror from only moments before.

"Sora!" Roxas hissed again as it seemed his brother had gotten a little lost in his thoughts. Sora's eyes focused on him as he pulled himself together.

"Demyx tried to drown me in the pool!" She said finally, voice breaking as he gave a couple of watery coughs.

"He _what?!_" Roxas was livid. The air had gone cold and his vision white with rage. "I knew that bastard was bad news the moment I laid eyes on him. I'm gonna kill 'im. Out of my way Sora, you're not stopping me. His ass is mine."

"No, Roxas, you don't get it!" Sora said trying to keep himself between his brother and the exit. "It wasn't just him. Half the class was off with Coach for some kind of special physical, but there were a few others, and they'd been acting strange and giving me that creepy feeling and I swear, Rox. You're gonna say I'm crazy, but I _swear_ there was this weird black misty stuff floating around their heads.

"I walked over to talk to Dem because I hadn't seen him before school, and next thing I know I'm being shoved into the pool, and they're all just standing there smirking down at me as he shoved me down into the water over and over again with the pool net. I seriously thought I was gonna die." Roxas stared at Sora in shocked silence as he was taken by another small coughing fit.

"How'd you get away?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I pretended I drowned," he said with a shrug and a cheeky grin. "Looks like all those deep diving adventures finally paid off. I drifted to a wall and hauled ass out of there, but it was weird. They didn't even try to chase me." He looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling up at Roxas again. "Hey, maybe they're scared of me. Maybe I have some super mutant power that can like, zap their brains to normal or something and they can't touch me." Roxas smiled warmly at his brother pulling him into fierce hug.

"Maybe you're right, Zo," he said taking comfort in his brother's presence. Safe and whole, if half naked and waterlogged. "Sometimes you can be a force to be reckoned with." He really had needed something normal to ground him back in reality, and Sora's crazy imagination had done the trick. Even if the world was going insane outside their closet, at least his brother was alright. That was a start. So what was next?

"Alright, we've gotta get out of here," Roxas started, again pulling away from his brother. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but the school's gone nuts. The faculty's doing something to the students and apparently, people want you dead." Roxas what quite amazed with how easily the words had come out considering how his stomach tried to drill its way out of his torso at the very thought of someone trying to kill Sora.

"We'll just try to lay low for now. We'll hide out here for as long as it seems safe and then—" The closet door suddenly swung open, flooding them both in light. Before Roxas could even blink, Sora was screaming and launching himself at the tall figure that had been standing in the doorway, taking him down to the ground.

"Don't worry about me Roxas!" Sora cried. "Save yourself! Get out of here! Find help! Warn everyone!"

"Uummmm…" It took Sora a moment, but he realized a couple of things all at once. 1.) The body that he was struggling against wasn't really doing a whole lot of struggling back, and 2.) Roxas—for whom he was so valiantly sacrificing himself in order to facilitate escape—wasn't escaping.

"Rox, could you get your rabid squirrel of a twin off of me before he gets us all dead?"

"Axel?" Sora asked, shooting up from his laying position.

"Axel," Roxas confirmed. Sora looked down, scrutinizing the redhead.

"Hey, you don't have any of that freaky black mist coming off of your head." Axel looked at Sora as if the brunet were something gross on the bottom of his shoe, but refrained from commenting. Instead he just turned his eyes to Roxas.

"Anyway, I'm getting the hell out of here. If you're coming, I'm going. Now."

"Right! You have a car!" Sora exclaimed following happily. Axel shuddered and Roxas smiled. He and Axel didn't really hangout much, but he still considered the taller boy a friend. They understood each other in a way that a lot of other people didn't get, and maybe that was part of the thing that sealed their friendship. Axel was cool with Roxas, but he made it perfectly clear that he most definitely was _not_ ok with Sora. That was fine. Roxas could deal. There was nothing he loved more than watching Axel cringe on the rare occasions that they had to interact with each other.

"Roxas, c'mon!" Sora hissed over his shoulder to his brother. Roxas smiled and followed. Axel's car was apparently parked in the faculty lot just outside the main building. The fastest way to get there would be by cutting through the first floor and heading out through one of the side doors. They quickly made their way back across the field and were hurrying down the school corridors when…

"And where are you boys heading?" a sweet voice asked from behind. Sora barely paused, sparing a quick look behind at his English teacher. He needn't have bothered. He could already tell Ms. Gainsborough was tainted.

"Run!" he cried, already sprinting for the side exit that led to the parking lot. He was relieved that the others didn't hesitate to follow his lead.

"NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS, BOYS!!" bellowed Ms. Gainsborough, and if nothing else had freaked them out yet that day, hearing calm, collected Aerith roaring like a banshee definitely did the trick. Axel, with his much longer legs, had taken the lead and was almost at the door when Principal Ansem stepped out of nowhere directly into his path. Axel rebounded off of Ansem's chest like it was a brick wall and he ended up falling backward into Sora and Roxas sending them all to the floor in a heap.

"Axel Leigh and the Strife brothers," The tall silver-haired man said looking down at them with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Why am I not surprised that you three are yet again thorns in my side?"

"Leave them alone, Ansem!" Sora said leaping in front of Axel and Roxas. "They have nothing to do with this, it's me you want."

"That's where you would be wrong, Sora Strife," Ansem replied smoothly. "You see, I want you all. It's just that it's only you that I want dead."

"Sora!" Roxas called to his brother as rough hands grabbed all of them from behind, lifting Axel and Roxas to their feet. Focused as they were on Ansem, they hadn't noticed the crowd of students and teachers who had filled the halls behind them.

It seemed as though all confidence had drained out of Sora as he realized just how out numbered they were. Things had almost been fun before when it seemed as though he was untouchable, but there were defiantly people touching him now, and not just him. Both Roxas and Axel were in trouble too, and the thought that he might screw something up, that one of them might get hurt was fueling the terror that was steadily filling his heart.

"Y-you c-can't d-do this!" Sora managed to choke out through a suddenly constricted throat. It wasn't supposed to go like this. No one else was supposed to get hurt. He was supposed to know what to do, and his brain was supposed to be actually functioning so that he could think straight, but the air was filling with dark mist and it was suffocating him. He could feel it drifting over his skin, crawling over his bare chest seeking his heart. But the darkness could go no further than that. He knew already that there was something that was keeping it away from him, but he couldn't remember what. He knew what was happening; what he had to do! Why couldn't he remember?!

"Pathetic child," Ansem sneered. "You have no idea what you have stumbled into do you?" Sora could only stare as the darkness continued to fill the air and the suffocating feeling grew stronger. "It is alright. This will all be over soon for you. It is fortunate that your brother is here. I'm sure that you will take comfort in knowing that he will be the one to deliver the final blow. His will be the last face you see."

There was a strangled sound and Sora looked back in time to see Ms. Gainsborough press a hand over Roxas' face leaving a black smear in its wake. Within seconds, the dark matter was seeping into his brother's skin, sinking in to take over his mind. He watched as Roxas fell clawing at his face before finally lying still, and moments later getting back to his feet to smirk cruelly at his brother.

"Holy shit!" Axel squeaked held firmly in the arms of Cid, the shop teacher. He knew that they were completely screwed, but there was still some part of his brain that was hoping…and then Leon, the football coach, brought out the metal bat and handed it to a grinning Roxas. That's when he knew it was over. Roxas was really going to kill Sora with a baseball bat, and these freaky tar-people-alien-whatever-the-fuck-they-were things were going to take over the planet.

Hope died.

Sora was now staring wide eyed at his brother's approach. It was Roxas, _his_ Roxas coming towards him with murder in his eyes, and…it was the most ridiculous thing he could ever imagine. _Roxas_ trying to kill him. His own twin…with a baseball bat! It was insane! Of course the feel of the butt of the bat smacking him in the face and sending him to the ground stamped out any growing hysteria there might have been. And then the sight of the upswing managed to pull his brain into action to avoid having his skull cracked open and brains splattered all over the tile. What was he doing? He was letting these psychos use his brother, while he knew how to stop them!

Grateful for his clearing head, Sora watched his brother, rolling forward as the bat came down and swiftly grabbing Roxas' ankle and kicking up and back forcing him off balance. Roxas went down with a shout of outrage and Sora went up, grabbing his brother's face in his hands. Roxas was glaring and snarling as he tried to struggle back up, but Sora held him down and focused on the unnamable feeling he had growing in his chest. There seemed to be a moment with his brother's eyes flashed with light, and then black ooze was flowing from everywhere on his face. Eyes, ears, mouth, nose…it leaked from him like some kind of tarry mucus which quickly sublimated into nothing leaving Roxas alert and shaking.

"Sora…" was all he managed before an angry foot came lashing viciously out at Sora's exposed side. Sora whimpered and he curled up in an attempt to shield himself.

"So you do know more than you are letting on," Ansem hissed at him. "Fine! Then we will deal with this matter swiftly." Leon had taken up the bat and was wasting no time in taking aim. Sora managed to dodge and roll to his feet, glancing quickly to Axel and Roxas before diving to the side again.

"It's ok guys! Don't panic!" he called to them and Axel responded only with a wave of swearing. "There's this thing!" he said, barely avoiding a broken arm. "I had this dream!" He said, again spinning successfully from the bat but directly towards…

"Sora! What the fuck are you doing?!?" Roxas screamed. Sora was spinning madly directly at Principal Ansem who seemed to be waiting for him with a look of amused triumph on his face. Ansem caught Sora in his arms, holding him firmly as he waited for Leon to come and finish him off.

"Sloppy," Sora said smirking up at him with a wink, and before Ansem could release him and shove him away, Sora did…something…There was a suddenly blinding flash from Sora and Ansem's general direction, a sharp and sudden stink filled the air, and then the halls were filled with the most god-awful screeching as all of the students and faculty in the building fell to their knees clutching their heads and the sublimating black ooze began to leak from them.

"Sonofa—!" Axel exclaimed as he was released and went quickly to helping Roxas up from where he still was on the ground. They both helped a collapsed Sora to his feet and booked it out of the school and into the parking lot as fast as they could, Axel grumbling under his breath the whole time.

"Couldn't kill it," Sora slurred as he tried to gain his feet. "Only stunned. We gotta hurry."

"Well we're hurrying," Roxas told him, trying to increase their speed anyway. They were almost to Axel's car when they heard the footsteps coming up from behind them. "Shit," Roxas hissed, and they hurried their pace a little more.

"Wait!" someone shouted as they packed into Axel's car. "Stop! Wait!" The voice was right behind them and then there was a loud thump as someone launched himself onto the hood of the car. "For the love of God, take me with you!" Sora looked up a bit dazed at the face pressed against the windshield. The boy was wearing a letterman jacket with the number from his football jersey on the sleeves. His silver hair was a mess and his face looked harried.

"Riku?" Sora asked, bemused.

"Sora?" Riku replied, confused.

"Time!" Axel growled, clearly not amused.

"Right!" Sora said snapping back to himself. "He's clean. Let him in!" Roxas swung open a door and Riku clamored in with a sigh.

"Thank you."

"Whatever. Now where the hell are we going?" Axel asked screeching out of the parking lot.

"I don't even know what the hell is going on," Riku sighed, burying his face in his hands.

"Join the club," Roxas murmured from his side, doing the best he could to suppress the rage he felt whenever he saw Riku of Kairi now. "We should probably call the cops or something. Tell them how the teachers tried to kill us," he reasoned. "We can use the phone at our place, and Cloud'll be there. He'll know better than we will what to do next."

"Good enough for me," Axel said turning a corner. "So, where do you live?" They gave Axel the directions and they rode for a bit in silence each lost in his own thoughts. It was so strange to look out the windows and realize that it was not even 9 in the morning yet. So much had happened, it seemed like years since the day had started and the weirdness began.

Riku sighed feeling incredibly awkward in the car with the three others. It was a bitter irony that of all people he would get stuck with in a life or death situation, it was Sora and Roxas who were saving his ass. His gut twisted uncomfortably as he noticed the glares that Roxas kept shooting him. Sora was in the front seat, eyes closed, but he didn't even want to think what the other boy thought of him now. This was going to be very interesting. A flash of pink caught his eye out of his window, and this effectively distracted him from the barely contained hatred being shot towards him by the small blond sitting next to him. Wait…he recognized that pink.

"Hey," Riku suddenly said pointing out the window. "Hey, hey, hey, _hey_!"

"Real articulate, dude," Axel grumbled, but he had also caught sight of what Riku was trying to point out to tem. "Sora?"

"She's clean, they're not," he confirmed, and Axel quickly swerved so that Riku could swing his door open.

"Kairi! C'mon!" he called to the girl who was being chased by several jocks and cheerleaders. She hesitated only a moment before dashing towards the car. Riku pulled her in and Axel was going even before Riku had fully closed the door behind her.

"I'm late to school for the first time ever and suddenly everyone's trying to kill me!" Kairi gasped out, wiping tears from her face and trying to catch her breath. "What the hell is going on!?!"

"Believe me," Roxas sighed, feeling a headache coming on, "you don't want to know."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N: **

Ok…so before I go any further I want to credit the "Zo" nickname to **KamirineGoddess **author of "_Sephiroth's Guide to Love and Deception_." Really enjoyed that story, mainly the character interactions and focus that she put on the familial relationships, but the plot was pretty psycho awesome too. 'Zo' apparently comes from when they were kids and couldn't say 'Sora' so it came out 'Zowa'…I think that's an awesome cute touch.

Next chap should be up…not too long from now, but I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, so don't know when the end will come…but _do_ look for my NaNo story "Mortality is…" I'm quite excited about it!(shameless plug)

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Standard Disclaimer:** Boo! These characters are not mine!

**Note:** So like…wow…here it is. Chapter 2 already. Yays for me. It helps that it was 98 percent done to begin with. This is going out to**RoxasTheOther, PirateCaptainBo, Bonanza, **and** Lokotei **who all left reviews which encouraged me to update and…yeah…here you go.

**Warnings: **I'm still not totally sure. More language, more hints of slash, likely presence of blood…and still interesting Sora…yeah. It starts with a flashback. That is all.

-:-finem-:-

**Tar Monsters from Mars**

-:- **II** -:-

"_Hey Roxas, don't you think it's weird how they just started acting like we don't exist all of a sudden?"_

"_Yeah Sora, really weird."_

"_So…what do you think could have happened?" Roxas looked at his brother with flat emotionless eyes and saw his brother respond to his thoughts, eyes widening slightly. Sora looked away quickly._

"_Something must've happened. There has to be something wrong." Roxas just sighed and continued walking towards their house._

"_What if…what if it's not really them?!" There was a spark in Sora's eyes as he spoke, one that Roxas hadn't seen since the day their parents had vanished. Despite the denial he knew Sora was building around himself, Roxas couldn't find it in him to shatter his brother illusions._

"_Yeah, that's got to be it. Like pod people or something," Sora continued. "Don't you think that's got to be what happened?" Roxas was tired…too tired to deal with this. Maybe Cloud could help Sora accept the truth._

"_Yeah, Sora," he sighed. "That must be what happened."_

-:- -:- -:-

They made it back to the Strife household without any further incidents, then after locking and sealing the doors windows and any other possible point of entry, they settled down in the small living room to figure out what to do next.

"So…" Riku started, fidgeting nervously on the couch where he found himself sitting between a somewhat grumpy Kairi and an entirely too up-beat for the situation Sora, who was now fully clothed—as they were sitting in his home and he had access to his bedroom—and holding an ice pack to a bruising cheek. "I guess we should call the cops now, right?"

"Maybe," Roxas said, from his place perched on the arm of the chair where Axel was sitting. He looked like he was contemplating something really hard and the whole room stared at him.

"Wait weren't you the one who said that's what we should do in the first place?!" Riku snapped at him, glaring at Sora when the smaller boy gave him a whack on the head.

"Don't yell at my brother," he said with a small pout, "especially since he's right. We can't go to the cops. They could already be turned, and over the phone, there's no way to tell."

Through all of this, Kairi had been sitting patiently waiting for someone to explain what exactly the emergency was. Did someone put something in the water supply? Was there a movie being filmed on the island? Had she accidentally worn last season's footwear? She glanced down at her pretty pink and white vans securely tied to her ankles with lavender ribbon. (No, that definitely wasn't it.) So then why had her friends suddenly started chasing her when she got to school? There had to be a reason, but obviously this group didn't have the answers.

"Look," she said standing from her spot on the couch and looking primarily at Riku as she spoke. "Thank you for saving me back there, but I think I'm going to head home. Whatever their damage is, I'm sure it'll blow over by tomorrow and things will be back to normal. In the mean time…I've got mags to read and plans to make for prom."

"Proms not for another 6 months, Kairi," Roxas deadpanned.

"And it pays to be prepared, Roxy-poo," she winked at him preparing to shove a table aside to get to the front door when she suddenly found a glowering Sora blocking her path.

"You can't go back out there, Kairi," he said unusually serious. "If you do, you just might lose your soul." She stared at him for all of five seconds before rolling her eyes and shoving at the table again. She had known the Strifes for a long time, and she better than anyone knew just how ridiculous Sora could get with his little land of make-believe.

"You should listen to him, Kairi," Roxas stated simply and this did give the redhead a reason to pause. After all, she had known the Strifes for a long time, and she knew also that Roxas was not the kind of person to buy into his bothers bullshit.

"Roxas, please don't tell me you're falling into Sora's delusions too. You were the normal twin." She ignored the look of hurt that crossed Sora's face at those words but couldn't miss the rage from Roxas.

"God, I don't even know why I bother with you!" he snarled angrily, and Axel's lips stretched in a vaguely malicious smirk when he did. "You're nothing but a selfish bitch! Sora's the only reason any of us are here right now. It was at his word that we stopped to pick you up, but you're not even willing to listen to what he has to say! Fine then. Get out! I hope those things out there rip out your still-beating heart."

Kairi stared at him appalled. He really had gone nuts. She looked to Riku who she thought would confirm the fact that everyone else in the room was indeed deranged, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. He just sat, staring at the small coffee table in the room, fidgeting with his hands.

"Riku," she began, "Don't tell me you—"

"I think we should listen to them, Kai," he said in an agitated voice. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but it sure as hell ain't normal."

She glared at for a moment, hoping his traitorous head would melt under the flame of her rage. When she realize that there was nothin' doin', she just huffed and walked back across the room to return to her place on the couch, though she tried to sit as far from Riku as possible this time.

"Fine," she huffed. "I'm listening. What cock and bullshit are you going to pull today, Sora?"

Sora pouted at her for a moment before bouncing back over to happily sit on the couch with her and Riku.

"No shittin' you this time, Kai," Sora said. "We're dealing with a real life invasion here."

Kairi blinked at him once before standing and heading to the door again.

"Kairi!" Riku called standing to stop her.

"No!" she shouted. "You've gotta be kidding, Riku! Clearly you've gone just as nuts as everyone else in this room. You cannot possibly be willing to listen to this nonsense!"

"Yeah, Riku. Let her go. Let those things turn her," Axel said, speaking for the first time since Kairi had started. "I'd love to have an excuse to smack her dumbass around a bit."

Kairi glared at him. Axel gave a vicious smile.

"I can't believe you of all people falling into this, Axel," she snapped. "You're just as much a freak as Sora, but at least you have a somewhat solid grip on reality. Since when did you join the loony brigade?"

"Since my friends started oozing black tar shit from their hands and trying to give me a facial with it," he told her plainly.

"And since I found out what it does to you," Roxas added quietly. Kairi scoffed in disbelief, looking to Riku as if the two had just proven a point for her. To Kairi's great consternation, Riku just gave her a level look, not budging at all.

"Look," he began, "I know that Sora has gotten a little…weird over the years. Normally I'd be right out the door with you, but this time…I don't know, Kai. There's something up, and I can't explain it with anything logical at this point."

"So you honestly expect me to believe that there are some kid of…tar monsters running around out there trying to steal our souls?"

Riku flushed a little, scowling at how she was mocking him.

"No. I'm saying that you should get the full story before deciding to go back outside." Kairi glared at him for a long moment, searching for something in his eyes to tell her that he was joking, or drunk, or crazy, or…something. She found nothing of the sort. Irritated and just wanting to get out of the house, she threw her hands up, then crossed her arms over her chest. If she just had to hear them out in order to go, she would listen to another one of Sora's works of fiction. This should be entertaining.

"So, 'Sorry'," she shot at Sora, knowing that the nickname was a sore spot for him, "Where are these 'tar monsters' from this time? Mars maybe?"

"Don't be silly Kairi," the brunet laughed, ignoring Kairi's mockery. "Everyone knows that there are no tar monsters on Mars. Just the spirit-wraiths that go around shaping the terrain and stuff. These things are totally different."

Kairi stared at him for a second, deadpan, before turning to glare at Riku. This whole situation was his fault. If he hadn't stopped her, she'd be happily almost home by now instead of listening to the ramblings of someone who was clearly mentally unstable.

"Sora," Riku said, eying Kairi nervously, "maybe it would be better if you stuck to what's happening here and leave your other theories for later?"

"Right," Sora said instantly becoming more serious. "We do have a problem here and I'm not really sure how it happened or what we're supposed to do about it. Heh…I'm not even really sure what all is going on."

"Then remind me again why we're listening to you," Kairi interrupted but was immediately shushed by the rest of the group.

"Look," Sora continued, "I'm not sure how and I'm not sure why, but it looks like darkness has invaded the school and taken over everyone there."

The room was dead silent after this proclamation, broken only by the cheerful twittering of birds in the bright morning air outside.

"Darkness," Axel said not even trying to hide the mockery in his voice, "you're serious."

Sora looked at him and nodded solemnly. Axel looked at him for another few second before standing to his feet and walking toward Kairi.

"Right, so you still wanna get out of here, cuz I think I just traded fealty."

"Axel, I'm serious!" Sora cried as Kairi jumped to her feet with a grateful sigh and Riku followed suit looking troubled but not convinced. "You guuuuys! You can't leave," Sora launched himself at Riku's ankles, latching on and refusing to let go. "They'll get you and I don't know if I'll be able to fix you all in time. You have to listen to me!"

"Y'know, I don't know why I actually though you'd have anything useful to say," Axel said conversationally, shoving the table out of the way as he reached for the front door and Sora's whining escalated. "I must've temporarily lost my mind, too. I honestly don't know what the hell is going on out there or how you pulled off all that bullshit at school, but clearly, neither do you, and I'll take my chances on my own without adding a nutcase to the equation."

"And what about me?" Roxas' quiet voice broke into the whirlwind of crazy forming at the door. Everyone stopped and stared at him. "Do I fall under the same category of nuts?" No one replied and Roxas' eyes focused on Axel though he spoke for the room at large.

"Axel, you were there. You saw what they made me do. How I—" he stumbled getting the words out. "How I almost killed Sora right in front of you." All attention was on Roxas now as he spoke, still sitting on the arm of the chair where he had first settled.

"When they touched me," he spoke into the sudden hush, "It was like everything went cold, but the place where that…black stuff was on my face just_burned_. I remember feeling it sink past my skin, sink into my mind…and then it was like every bad feeling I've ever had was brought up again, and I was just filled with so much anger and hate and rage.

"Ansem said that he wanted me to kill Sora before they had changed me, but afterwards, I could still remember what he'd said. You all _know_ I would hack off my own arm before ever hurting my brother, but when they gave me that bat, all I wanted to do was smash his skull in. What else would you call that? What name could it have other than darkness?" He turned his eyes down to his brother who was still clinging to Riku's leg.

"And Sora saved me with his light."

The moment was broken by the sound of keys jingling in the door. Axel, Kairi and Riku jumped back as the door swung open and the eldest Strife brother made his way in, freezing as he took in the scene in front of him. Sora had still been clutching to Riku's leg when the silver-haired boy tried to step back. The result was Riku falling over pulling Kairi and Axel down with him forming a three-person dog pile on top of a whining Sora.

"Again, did I miss something?" Cloud asked, and he looked around their home frowning at the impromptu barricades everywhere. "Guys, what's going on?"

"Cloud," Roxas said getting to his feet. "Thank God. There is something really nuts going on around here." Cloud smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that why Sora is currently buried under, hey wait. Riku? Kairi?" He looked over to Roxas confused. "What are you two doing here in the middle of a school day no less?"

"Oh, you know us, Cloud!" Kairi said struggling to her feet and doing her best to smile cutely. "Just playing around."

"Okay…" Cloud said watching as Riku got to his feet leaving a very disgruntled Sora on the floor, eyes squeezed shut as he whined piteously.

"Clooooud, Riku crushed me with his big butt!" He opened his eyes aiming for some sympathy points with his brother then suddenly screamed, scrambling back as quickly as he could and struggling to his feet.

"Get away from him, he's one of them!" Sora screamed pointing frantically. Cloud just stared at him confused, looking over his shoulder to make sure there was no one else there.

"Sora, what are you talking about?" Cloud asked quizzically, and uncertainty suddenly filled the air.

"Guys, get behind us," Roxas said stepping up beside Sora to face their brother. Axel began inching his way towards the twins but Riku and Kairi both paused staring between the two sides.

"Roxas, Sora, what's going on?" Cloud asked, hurt and confusion showing on his face. He turned to Riku and Kairi. "Have they both lost it or something? Sora was acting really weird yesterday, but this is…"

"You can't trick us, Cloud," Sora said voice shaking a little as he struggled with the shock of realizing that their brother was against them now. "But I think I can fix you. You're not too far gone yet. I can still fix you."

Cloud looked at his brother as if he were really concerned for his sanity, turning to Riku and Kairi for help.

"What's wrong with him," he asked, and both had to admit, Sora was acting especially nuts at that moment. Maybe he really had just lost all grip on reality in the face of whatever had happened in the town. He looked like he was going to attack his own brother.

"Look, Sora," Riku said stepping in to block the smaller boy's path. "Are you sure you're not just imagining things?" Kairi nodded her agreement facing Sora as well. He leveled a glare at them that could sear flesh from bone.

"Let me help my brother," he told them, and both took a step back, unnerved. Sora had never spoken to them that way, or anyone else for that matter. Their moment of shock was short-lived however as Cloud, taking advantage of the distraction placed a hand on each of their faces leaving a black smear. It happened before anyone could react, and then Riku and Kairi were on the ground writhing and screaming as Cloud pulled a wicked looking knife from his boot and swung it at Sora's neck.

Sora squeaked as Axel pulled him roughly from harms way by his hair falling as the redhead stepped forward throwing a lamp at Cloud. The hit was intercepted by an enraged Kairi, who stood and knocked the lamp away with an arm. She didn't even flinch at the contact focusing instead on trying to reach Axel now. Roxas came at her from the side, swinging a chair, but she caught that too, yanking it from his grip with inhuman strength before grabbing him by the throat and lifting him several inches into the air as she squeezed. Axel tried the old fashioned approach and went for her eyes, but she smacked his hand away, scoffing, before catching his neck as well and holding him in place. She looked expectantly at Cloud, waiting for orders.

"Hold them," he told her walking over to where Riku was squatting on a struggling Sora's wrists, being careful not to make skin-to-skin contact possible. Cloud walked around to stare down at this little brother with sorrowful eyes.

"I'm sorry, Zo," he said in a voice that was completing unrepentant. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, but—"

Riku suddenly cried out leaping away and dancing around like his feet were on fire. Cloud tried to stab Sora as soon as it became clear that his prey was about to escape, but somehow, the smaller boy managed to roll away, crying out in pain as the blade swung again catching him in his side as he reached out to Kairi grabbing one of her wrists. The girl gave a small gasp and spasm a moment before releasing her captives then falling over, to convulse on the ground.

Sora turned to his brother next reaching out to grab him, only to be answered with a blade swinging at his hand. Axel and Roxas were both joining the effort, when Cloud, with a bitter glare, rushed past them and back out of the house. Riku tried to follow, but he was still on the ground hissing and spitting as he struggled to get his shoes off. Sora rushed over to straddle him and placed a hand on his forehead, concentrating. Riku made a gargled sound before he too went into small convulsions and black matter began flowing from him.

"Guys, we've got company!" Axel called from the front door, and both Sora and Roxas looked up to see that Cloud had not fled as they had hoped, but instead had just gone out to regroup with the hordes of other infected people who had gathered outside their house.

"We'll go out the back," Roxas called. "Axel, can you get Riku?" The redhead was already hefting the football player to his feet while Roxas hurried to help Kairi. Sora, mean while, had run to the closet where they kept sports supplies grabbing their parent's old croquet set along with a couple of bats and a jump rope for good measure.

"Sora, what the fuck are you doing!?" Axel screamed at him as he helped a groggy Riku through the kitchen.

"We need weapons!" was all Sora said as he began putting things into the croquet bag at random. Rather than trying to figure out how Sora thought silverware and food supplies were going to be useful as weapons against the things that were attacking them, Axel simply pulled Sora bodily out of the kitchen and shoved him through the back door along with the rest of their group. They might as well have stayed where they were, however, because no sooner had they rushed into the back yard when…

"Axel, bro. What are you doing hanging out with those losers?" Axel's older brother Reno asked, leading a crowd of formerly friendly faces from the town. The group huddled together backing away from the new threat. "Just hand over the kid, Axel, and no one has to get hurt."

"Right, you'll just take over our brains instead. That'll be tons of fun," Axel sarcasmed.

"It is, Ax. You'll see soon enough." As Reno began advancing, Sora suddenly jumped forward filling his hands with the salt he had pilfered.

"Close your eyes!" he warned before throwing the salt, scattering it across the crowd of people. Sora's warning hadn't been very advanced, so none of the group actually managed to close their eyes at all. Instead, they watched as the salt, which seemed to sparkle in the daylight, fell onto the gathered crowd and they all jumped back, hissing in pain and leaving a path for the group to run through.

Sora handed a bat to Axel and Roxas each then pulled mallets out handing them to Riku and Kairi. He kept the jump rope for himself.

"If they get near you, swing. These should hold them off for a while." The other's had no time to question the command as one of the bolder townies made a dive for Sora's unguarded back. Riku swung without thinking and with a flash of light and a sickening squelching sound, the shoulder his mallet contacted exploded into a shower of rancid black gore. Everything froze for a moment, Riku looking down in horror as the sludge slid down the sleeve of his letterman. That was gonna stain…

"Works for me!" Axel called, breaking the silence, and with that he started laying into the people ahead of them with his bat. With every impact, the dark creatures around them seemed to realize they would not be getting to their prey so easily. The ones that weren't too far gone only fell back, others lost limbs to the onslaught like the man Riku had hit. Unfortunately, rather than make their assailants wary, this only seemed to drive them into a frenzy.

The five teens blocked and defended themselves as best they could from the madness that was growing around them. More faces appeared, some of them so consumed by the strange darkness that it was visible to everyone in the group now. There were people who had only half of their natural features left, the other side gripped in crawling black matter that was slowly seizing the rest of their bodies. Some still looked like themselves, but their pupils had turned the color of lemon drops, and the yellow was spreading as the darkness continued to feed. It was like battling their way through a nightmare.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Roxas called as a large woman leapt at them with a pair of garden sheers. Sora deftly knocked them away with one handle of his jump rope then smacked her across the face with the other sending her staggering away from the group. "We have to figure out where we're going!" Roxas said this as he drove his bat into the gut of an elderly man in a postal worker's uniform.

"This is hopeless!" Kairi cried trying to swing her mallet again. She screamed as hands grabbed her from behind smearing the black goo over her face again. The others panicked, Sora running for her to try and get to her before she changed, but to everyone's shock and amazement, the black matter seemed to run off her skin and burn away.

"What the?" Riku murmured, and then hands were reaching for them from all sides. They swung their weapons madly, keeping the bodies at bay, but it was clear to see that they weren't going to last for long.

A spark of insight filled Sora's eyes for a moment as the people continued attacking. He ran to Axel quickly grabbing his arm and concentrating. The redhead looked down at him like he was nuts as a flash of something washed through him, and then Sora was turning to the crowd again, reaching into his bag of ammo. He pulled out the salt again, and not even bothering to warn them this time, threw another handful ahead of them to clear a path.

"Run!" he called to them, fighting off the strange fatigue that was starting to pull at his muscles making it difficult to move. He let the others rush past him as he grabbed a couple of croquet balls, charged them then launched them at the nearest threats. He threw another handful of salt over his shoulder as he ran to catch up with his friends, grinning madly as he did.

Then the yard tools started flying.

For a second there, they'd forgotten these things wanted Sora dead. With him and the others being away from the crowd now, they were open targets, and projectiles were the only logical means of attack. Thankfully, shovels, and rakes, and hoes made fairly cumbersome throwing weapons, so for the most part, they missed, and the things that did connect, were buckets and the like…not so dangerous. Still, it wouldn't be long before housewives started pulling their knife collections, and that would be a problem.

"Cover!" Sora cried, strength flagging as he charged then threw a bag of beans over his shoulder. He knew that he couldn't last much longer doing this, and then a stray mailbox slammed into his back sending him to the ground. Roxas was at his side immediately, helping him up as the others searched for cover somewhere. They had neared the end of the residential area and would be heading into town. It seemed only more danger awaited them there. Things were looking very grim.

"Over here!" Through the haze of fatigue and dizziness, Sora heard a familiar voice calling out. "Guys! This way! Hurry!!"

He looked up through clouding eyes to see Naminé franticly waving at them from a sewer grate.

"Rox," Sora ground out pointing, and Roxas saw her immediately.

"Guys, this way!" Roxas called, staggering with Sora towards what he hoped would be some kind of safety. Riku was by his side, then, helping to carry Sora's weight as Axel and Kairi rushed ahead to climb down and help get him in.

"This is stupid," Axel growled. "They can see us, they'll just follow us down here!"

"Don't worry about that," Naminé said a little panicked. "Just hurry before they get here!"

They managed to get Sora down the hole with only minor difficulty, and then closed the grate back over themselves just as the first of their pursuers caught up. They could hear the sounds of them working the metal back up again.

"This way!" Naminé snapped, and they hastened to follow, knowing they had seconds before they'd be trapped by their not-so-friendly townsfolk again. She led them to a large pipe with a sealable opening. Gesturing for them to get in, she waited, watching nervously for signs of pursuit, then climbed in after them, sealing the door behind her and securing it shut with a thick metal bar. They were left in pitch-blackness before she pulled a small flashlight from somewhere and shined it on the top of the pipe offering some light.

"We're in the town's old waterways," she said with a small smile. "We can get anywhere form here, and they won't know where we are. I think we're safe for the time being."

No one said anything. No one knew what to say, but the moment was broken then Roxas suddenly gasped out his brother's name and in the dim light, they saw Sora give a small gasping shudder before passing out cold. Riku was the one to catch him before he hit the ground, and Roxas was checking him for serious injury.

"Give me some light over here, I can't see," he requested shakily.

"I know a better place," Naminé said moving a bit ahead of them. "It's lighter there and there's more space. It's not far. Come." They had no choice but to follow as Naminé walked away with the light, and as darkness closed around them yet again, the small group shuddered in remembrance of what awaited them on the surface.

-:- -:- -:-

At the junction of several arms that branched out under the city, there was a space much larger than the confines of the smaller pipes and tunnels. It was a hub of sorts where the air smelled a little less stagnant and exits were plentiful; a perfect refuge. This is where Naminé brought the small group. There were a few odd supplies scattered about— batteries, a small radio, canned food...all the telltale signs of an emergency kit. There was also a larger battery powered lantern in the middle of the space, which Naminé quickly moved to and turned on.

There were several gleaming metal pipes in the area that reflected and augmented the light, filling the junction with a dim glow that was easy enough for them to see by. Naminé also pulled an emergency blanket from a small pack on the floor and spread it out.

"Lay him here," she said, and Roxas went to help maneuver Sora off of Riku's back and onto the cold concrete floor. He didn't look very well at all. There were spatters of black on him from when all of them were attacking the townsfolk; the bruising on his cheek was a dark smear across his sallow skin. Upon further investigation, Roxas found a shallow cut on his side from when Cloud had attacked them, and a few small cuts from the mailbox that had hit him, but there was nothing there that would account for Sora's current state of unconsciousness.

"Maybe it has something to do with all that stuff he was doing while we were trying to get away," Riku offered nervously from Sora's side also looking him over. Axel, Kairi and Naminé just stood back and watched. "The salt and the weapons and stuff, y'know? He must have been doing something to them."

"You're right," Roxas said, not sure where the knowledge was coming from. "He was charging objects with the same energy he uses to purge the darkness from a person. It'll only come out if he can get direct skin contact, but they can't stand to touch anything charged by light…like your shoes back at the house Riku."

Riku's eyes widened in shock and sudden comprehension, and there were sounds from Axel and Kairi indicating that they hadn't figure that out yet, either.

"Part of it is he's exhausted," Roxas said, looking down at his brother, whose eyes were moving rapidly behind his closed lids. "The other part is he's learning."

"Learning?" Naminé asked, speaking up despite her confusion. "What would he be learning in his sleep?" Roxas looked up at her, eyeing each individual in the group seriously before answering.

"How to end this," he said, then settled on the ground to guard his brother's slumber.

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**A/N:**

Huzzah! Second chapter, and while I'm NaNoing it too. Forgot about that thing where I have no life, so writing a lot is not ever gonna be a problem really…at least for now. Ok, so the middle of the story is done now. Next chapter will be resolution…of a lot of things and of course…the showdown with the boss character! Oh noes!!! Right…that's all. Click the button…tell me what you think :)

**Review please**


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